No More Medical Marijuana in San Jose Today, May 13th

San Jose City Council Discusses Regulations That Effectively Ban All Medical Marijuana Businesses

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwired - May 13, 2014) - The San Jose City Council is again attempting to implement regulations that are unworkable for marijuana businesses. The proposed regulations effectively shut down all medical marijuana Business in the city. With claims marijuana lobbyists are pushing for watered down regulations, the reverse is actually true. Marijuana business operators have asked for responsible regulations, while the proposed regulations have been primarily influenced by law enforcement, who view all medical marijuana to be illegal.

The regulations from San Jose city staff would:

Do virtually nothing to address the issue of medical marijuana in schools

Force medical marijuana patients to buy their medicine off the streets, and in residential neighborhoods;

"Doing the same thing they did three years ago is insane," said Dave Hodges, founder of the All American Cannabis Club, and Silicon Valley Cannabis Coalition (SVCC) member. "If the city council passes the proposed regulations, the community will respond with a referendum, again."

SVCC members submitted another initiative yesterday (May 12th) that would help the city move forward in a positive way. The initiative would create a commission to provide oversight as well as:

Ensure medical marijuana does not impact any K-12 schools;

Establish strict standards for marijuana businesses;

Monitor marijuana businesses and take actions to correct any violations of safety, operational standards, and state law;

Study any problems or concerns of the community related to marijuana; and

"The regulations drafted by San Jose City Staff do nothing to solve the current issues, and will, in fact, cause a greater impact on residential neighborhoods," said John Lee, SVCC member and director of Control & Regulate San Jose. "The city needs to resist the temptation to pass the current proposal. By establishing a Cannabis Commission, the entire community can be assured all issues will be addressed and resolved fairly."

Medical marijuana operators have long supported reasonable regulations, yet are again faced with the fear of unreasonable closure of their businesses. The medical marijuana patients who need it most will be driven to the streets and the black market for their medicine.

If San Jose residents, business owners and property owners want sound regulations, they'd better show up at tonight's council meeting in force.